Braking mechanism for airships



May 29, 1934. E. H. TOWLE BRAKING MECHANISM FOR AIRSHIPS Original FiledMay 13, 1921 a 9 S x WITNESSES ilzmwmlba A TTORNEYS Patented May 29,1934 I 1,960,762 BRAKING MECHANISM ron AIRSHIPS Ellingwood H. Towle,Larchmont, N. Y., assignor to United States of America as represented bythe Secretary of War Refiled for abandoned application Serial No.

469,209, May 13, 1921. This application February 19, 1932, Serial No.594,338

4 Claims.

This application is a refile for abandoned application, Serial Number469,209 filed May 13, 1921, and the inventionrelates to new and usefulimprovements in airships and the like, pertaining 5 more particularly toa braking mechanism for the landing gear thereof. So far as is known thelanding gears of airships have not been provided with brakingmechanismadapted for operation during the landing of the airship for thereason that resistance offered to the traction wheels of the airshipwhen in contact with the landing surface, causes a movement of the bodyof the ship about theaxis of the wheels of the landing gear,

. which movement causes the ship to pitch fore and aft to a' positionwhich would result in engagement of the nose and its component partswith the landing surface and consequently the wrecking of the airship.

To so construct the landing gear of the airship that resistance may beapplied to the traction wheels thereof without effecting an excessivefore and aft pitching of the ship, is one of the primary objects of thepresent invention.

It is a further object of the invention to provide means for manuallycontrolling the resistance by the operator of theairship.

It is a further object of the invention to so posi- -tion the wings orplanes of the airship that when the fuselage thereof assumes ahorizontal position owing to the resistance applied to the tractionwheels of the landing gear or by depressing elevators, giving minimumdrift or drag and hence shortest run in taking oft-said wings or planeswill have no lifting power and will therefore not serve to lift thewheels of the landing gear out of contact with the landing surface butwill increase the force with which they are caused to engage thesurface.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a new andimproved form of control mechanism for airships, the use of whichpermits the complete control.of the machine when not in flight or whentraveling on the ground,

such as taxiing" about.

With the above and other objects in view, reference is-had to theaccompanying drawing, in

' which- Figure 1 is a side elevation partly broken away of an airshipconstructed in accordance with the present invention; 6

Figure 2 is a detail perspective view of the combined brake and rudderactuating mechanism;

Figure'3, is a detail view in elevation of one of the braking wheels,and

This landing gear maybe of any preferred type and differs from thepresent landing gear in that instead of using two wheels disposed onopposite sides of the fuselage, as is the common practice, the presentinvention contemplates the use of 7 four wheels arranged in a rearwardset of main landing wheels 9 and a forward set of auxiliary landingwheels 10, there being ,two wheels 9 and two wheels- 10 arranged onopposite sides of the fuselage 5. Each of these wheels 9 and 10 is pro-7 vided with a sprocket l2, and passing around said sprockets 12, is achain 13, by means of which the wheels will be constantly driven inunison when in engagement with the landing. surface.

The reference character 15 designates the rudder bar, pivotally mountedby means of a pin or the like 16 upon a base or standard rigidly securedin any desired manner to the floor of the airship. Pivotally secured tothe ends of the rudder bar 15, as at 18, and extending rearwardly to therudder, are the rudder control cables 19, said cables being connected tothe rudder in such a manner that it may be moved to steer the ship whenin flight.

Mounted upon the rudder bar 15, upon opposite sides of itspivotal point,are sleeves 20, and said sleeves are each provided with a foot pedal 21.These sleeves are loosely mounted on the rudder bar 15 and are free torotate thereabout under the control ofthe operator of the ship. Each ofthese sleeves 20 is provided with a rigid arm-22, and pivotallyconnected to each of the arms 22, as at 23, is a rod or the like 24.Each of the rear wheels 9 of the landing gear is provided with a brakedrum 25, and passing around said brake drum and adapted to be moved intocontact therewith, is a brake band 26. The rods '24 heretofore mentionedare pivotally connected as at 27, to the brake band 26. By thisconstruction it is apparent that as the sleeves 20 are rocked about therudder bar 15, by the foot pedals 21, the brake bands 26 will befrictionally engaged with their respective brake drums 25 and a brakingpressure will be applied to the rear wheels 9 of the landing gear.

' bar is free to be moved about its pivotal point 17 in a horizontalplane to actuate the rudder control cables 19 without effecting anoperation of the brakes, and that the: brakes may be operated withouteffecting a movement of the rudder since as heretofore stated thesleeves 20 are freely rotatable about the rudder bar 15.

The rudder '7 is shown in section in Figure 4, and said rudder isprovided in its forward portion with a recess or housing 28. Rotatablymounted in this recess or housing 28, is a steering wheel 29, said wheelbeing mounted as at 30, in the rudder '7. As more clearly shown inFigure 1, this recess or housing 28 is formed in a portion 31 of therudder, which projects forwardly thereof, and occupies a positionbeneath the rear end of the fuselage 5. By this construction it isapparent that when the steering wheel 29 is in engagement with theground, a movement of the rudder will angularly position the steeringwheel 29 with respect to the longitudinal axis or motor center. of theship and cause a. lateral movemnet of the rear end of the sh. thusproviding a steering means when the ship is traveling upon the ground.

The device operates in the following manner:

The reference character A designates the motor center of the ship, whenthe ship is in the position shown in Figure 1., and the referencecharacter B designates the angular position of the-motor center of theship when the ship is in the position at which the best landing may beeffected, i. e., with the rear wheels 9 of the landing gear and thesteering wheel '29 simultaneously contacting with the surface on whichthe landing is to be made. Assuming now in making a landing that themachine-alights with the rear wheels 9 of the landing gear and thesteering wheel 29 in contact with the surface, the motor center will bein the position indicated by the line designated by the reference character B. As the ship alights, the operator pushes "stick forward makingship horizontal and applies-one or both brakes, whereupon resistance isimmediately offered to the rear'wheels 9 of the landing gear.Immediately this resistance takes effect owing to the momentum of theship,

4 the ship rocks about the axis of the rear wheels 9 of the landing gearand attempts to nose over. When the fuselage of the ship is rocked to aposition where the airplane has an angle of attack at which the liftcoefficient is zero, as when the motor center is in a plane indicated bythe line designated by the reference character A, the front wheels 10 ofthe landing gear engage the surface and prevent further rocking of themachine about the axis of the rear wheels 9 of the landing gear.

It will be noted that when the ship assumes this position, which isshown in Figure l, the planes or wings 6 thereof have an angle of attackwhich is zero or negative, and in which position the wings or planeshave negative lifting power and therefore the wheels of the landinggear, through the medium of the weight of the ship and through action ofair on upper side of wings, are maintained in contact with the landingsurface.

From the above it will be seen that the rudder.

Owing to the chain connection between the rear wheels 9 and the forwardwheels 10'of the landing gear, the braking resistance on the rear wheels9 of the landing gear is transmitted to the front wheels 10 thereof, andby proper manipulation of the brakes, it is apparent that the machinemay be brought to rest at practically any desired point after the wheelsof the landing gear have engaged with the landing surface. As themachine comes to rest, it is obvious that inasmuch as it is the commonpractice to position the center of gravity of the ship to the rear ofthe landing gear, the ship will settle and the wheel 29 carried by therudder 7 will contact with the landing surface, after which the ship isfree to be steered about the landing field at the will of the operator.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the present invention providesmeans for braking an airship when landing, and, at the same time,provides means for effectively steering the airship horizontally whentaxiing or not in flight. Also the airship may he landed at speeds aboveminimum flying speed.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is 1. In an airship, alanding gear, said landing gear comprising a plurality of wheelsarranged at the front of the machine on opposite sides thereof in pairs,abrake for operating on the rear wheel of each of said pairs, a sprocketcarried by each of said wheels, and a chain passing around saidsprockets whereby the braking action applied to the rear wheel of eachpair is transmitted to the front wheel of each pair, substantially asdescribed.

2. An airplane having, in combination, a fuselage, a main landing wheeldepending from the fuselage adjacent the forward end thereof, anauxiliary landing wheel depending from the fuselage forwardly of themain landing wheel, a driving connection between the said main andauxiliary wheels, and braking means for the said main landing wheel.

3. An airplane having, in combination, a fuselage, landing wheelsdepending from the fuselage adjacent the forward end thereof, andarranged in tandem, means for applying a braking pressure to the rearwheel, and a connection between the wheels causing the braking pressureapplied to the rear wheel to be applied also to the front wheel.

4. An aircraft having a main landing wheel positioned forwardly of thecenter of gravity of the craft, means under the control of the pilot ofthe craft for applying a braking resistance to said main landing wheel,an auxiliary landing wheel depending from the craft forwardly ofELLINGWOOD H. TOWLE.

